Opinion

Morgan County Relay for Life teams get head start

Committee raises $1,495

Many visited the booths during a fundraiser for the Relay for Life at Fort Morgan's City Park Saturday.
(DAN BARKER / FORT MORGAN TIMES)

Sadie Jones, left, and Nicole Doll, both 13 and of Fort Morgan, worked to get drivers to give donations during a fundraiser for the Relay for Life Saturday at Fort Morgan's City Park.
(DAN BARKER / FORT MORGAN TIMES)

The organizing committee for the Morgan County Relay for Life raised $1,495 at its event in Fort Morgan's City Park Saturday.

Young people were out on the street waving vehicles down to make cash donations, which raised about $195, said Chelsea Schraeder, event chairwoman for the overall Relay for Life this year.

A volleyball tournament brought in about $1,300, she said.

In addition, the event had booths from various teams that were raising money to donate to the cause, Schraeder said. All 22 teams were invited to set up booths. Those teams raised hundreds of dollars, and that money will eventually end up in the total that Morgan County's Relay for Life will collect.

The Xtreme and Six Pack teams were among those participating in a volleyball tournament as part of a fundraiser for the Relay for Life at Fort Morgan's City Park Saturday.
(DAN BARKER / FORT MORGAN TIMES)

With this kind of success, it looks like the park event will be scheduled again next year, she said, and the committee may build on it.

The actual relay will start at 6 p.m. June 7 and run through 6 a.m. June 8.

While fundraising teams have a big part of that night, anyone is invited to come to the Relay without raising funds or walking around the track at Legion Field all night, Schraeder said.

"We would love to have the community, survivors and caretakers attend," she said. "Cancer touches all of us."

Morgan County's overall Relay for Life has a big goal this year -- to raise $100,000, Schraeder said.

"We had a good turnout of people come through," she said.

After the weather cleared up, people were really enjoying the beautiful day, Schraeder said.

Advertisement

They were busy finding hidden treasures, getting fresh air, enjoying great food and, of course, helping "Celebrate, Remember and Fight Back against cancer in Morgan County."

Part of the purpose of the event was to raise awareness of the upcoming event.

"We do live in a great community, and we are encouraged by today's interest that this year's Relay For Life will unite Morgan County in raising funds for research, education and resources (to fight) this deadly disease that has touched so many of us," Schraeder said.

The American Cancer Society says about 25 percent of deaths are due to cancer. Many more who take care of cancer victims, are relatives or friends are also affected.

Each year, more than 4 million people in more than 20 countries participate in local relays, according to the Relay for Life Web site.

This not only raises fund for cancer research and to help out those who have cancer, but raises awareness.

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.